BEEF SCHNITZEL
Tender, crunchy, crispy, decadent – golden crumbed beef schnitzels are irresistible crowd-pleasers they’ll request time and time again!
Start with the right beef cut:
Thin beef escalopes, thinly sliced beef schnitzel slightly flattened with mallet.
Create your tasty crumbs:
Use a mix of half fresh and half dried breadcrumbs.
For delicious flavour, add 2 tbsp grated parmesan or pecorino and some chopped parsley.
For a lovely light and crunchy coating, use deliciously flaky Japanese-style panko crumbs.
Select your oil:
Grapeseed and sunflower oil are good, inexpensive, all-purpose frying oils.
Olive oil’s smoke point of 210°C makes it a good choice for frying. The digestibility of olive oil is not affected when it’s heated, even when re-used for frying.
Prep for action:
Use three deep plates to crumb the beef, topping up as needed.
Plate 1 – Plain flour
Plate 2 – Beaten egg with a little oil or milk to help crumbs stick
Plate 3 – Crumb mixture
Crumb your beef:
Drizzle a little lemon juice over beef and season with salt and pepper, or your choice of seasoning,
(I prefer Six Gun spice.)
Dust beef in flour. Shake off excess flour, then coat in lightly beaten egg. Dip into crumbs and shake off excess.
Place crumbed beef in a dish in a single layer, or between sheets of baking paper, so the crumb coating doesn’t go soggy.
Rest crumbed beef in the fridge for 30 minutes before frying. This ensures the coating sticks perfectly to the meat.
Frying:
Shallow-frying is the most popular method of cooking crumbed beef.
Add enough oil to a medium-sized, heavy-based pan to come halfway up the side of the pan. Heat over a moderately high heat until hot.
Cook crumbed beef in batches and don’t overcrowd the pan. Cook on both sides until lightly golden.
Reheat the oil between batches. If the oil isn’t hot enough, it won’t seal the crumb coating and the crumbs will become saturated with oil.
Drain on paper towel after cooking. Keep warm in a moderate oven while you cook remaining batches.
Or oven-bake crumbed beef if preferred:
Preheat oven to 200°C. Put a rack on a baking tray and spray with cooking oil spray.
Place crumbed beef on the rack without overlapping. Spray generously with the oil spray.
Cook for about 8 minutes on one side. Turn the meat, spray with oil, and then cook a further 8–10 minutes or until golden.
Recipe and Photo: Elize de Kock
